


In Their Own Time

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: The Travel Collection: Drabbles, Snippets, and Supershorts [77]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore, The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-01-04 20:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Letting out a soft sigh, he turns another card, wishing he could banish the grief that comes with realizing that those he'd hoped to call friend, that he'd let close, had not seen beyond the mundane. And worse, that they'd believed so deeply in the mundane facade that they believed the shallowest part of it was the reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Son of the Serpent

There are more things in the world than most people ever care to see, and Ezra knows that. He rather likes it, in fact, most days. It keeps them from noticing more than the sharp-smiled conman with a smooth drawl. Lets them believe that all he's doing is fleecing them for money. Out for himself and no one else.

Even those who know there's more than is apparent isn't enough to make most people notice it all - Vin's being a werewolf never let him see beyond the conman, Nathan's carefully camouflaged gift for healing never gave him the skill to see more than a Southern gentleman bigot. Josiah's love of spirits and Spirits brought him closest, but he still never could see more than he wanted to.

Perhaps Chris might have seen more, if he'd been less wrapped up in his own pain, or Buck if he'd been less focused on women. JD never had stood a chance - a more mundane boy Ezra's never seen.

Letting out a soft sigh, he turns another card, wishing he could banish the grief that comes with realizing that those he'd hoped to call friend, that he'd let close, had not seen beyond the mundane. And worse, that they'd believed so deeply in the mundane facade that they believed the shallowest part of it was the reality.

"They'll always see the least of it." A gentle hand strokes down his back, and Ezra leans into the familiar touch. "No one likes to see beyond the surface, especially when the waters run the deepest."

"Or when they believe there are monsters prowling those deeps." Ezra turns another card, though he's long since stopped actually playing - his hands know the pattern, and run without need for thought.

A chuckle comes, and the hand rests on the back of his neck for a long moment. "Anything they fear is a monster. Even the gods see monsters in what they fear."

"Some of them," Ezra allows, closing his eyes for a moment. "Some are more open-minded."

"As you hope every friend you make will be." There's a quiet sigh, faintly hissing. "Perhaps some day they will."

It is something of a fool's hope, but to be without hope, even a fool's hope, is to be the monsters that the world and the gods call them. Even with hope, sometimes they are monsters, for who can be called evil for sowing change and not indulge in such a title from time to time?


	2. It Matters

"It's not passed from person to person." Vin is sitting on a rock that looks like it's barely stable on the edge of the canyon. "And it's not entirely a curse."

"And it doesn't force you to change with the moon?" Chris is on more stable ground, at least physically. He doesn't fool himself into thinking this conversation is anything but dangerous, like shale underfoot.

"Not exactly." Vin shrugs his shoulders, leaning back a little on the rock. "It's easier to run on four feet then, harder to stay on two. Doesn't mean I can't."

"Anything else I should know about?" Chris shifts on his feet a little, like he's trying to stay steady on dry sand.

"Not sure it matters that I'm probably going to outlive you." Vin turns enough for Chris to see his profile. "Wouldn't be the first time I've done, outliving friends and kin." There's a darkness in his gaze that Chris recognizes, drawn from the same source as his own, but longer lived.

"It matters." Chris doesn't know how much it'll matter to him once he's dead and gone, but it matters to Vin, so it matters something.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Grief".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [A Cloak of Mourning](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/2183507).


End file.
